Gales & Damaging Winds for Southeastern Australia as First Major Mainland Cold Front Arrives

May 24, 2025

The first major cold front to impact the mainland this year is expected to push through on Monday, bringing widespread gale-force wind gusts and damaging winds, with southeastern South Australia and Adelaide likely to bear the brunt of the system.

EC wind gusts showing damaging winds across southeastern South Australia on Monday, and then strong winds across Victoria and NSW during Monday and Tuesday.

Today was just a taster, as the northern edge of a weaker front swept through the region, bringing severe thunderstorms and wind gusts of 113km/h at Neptune Island. On Monday, damaging winds are expected to be far more widespread across southeastern South Australia. The system should gradually weaken as it tracks eastwards, though gale-force gusts and windy conditions are still likely across parts of NSW and Victoria through Monday and Tuesday as the front moves through, helping to drop temperatures.

Cold burst of air tracking into southern Australia as indicated by 850mb temperatures.

The good news is this front will generate some much-needed rainfall for drought-parched areas of southeastern Australia, with falls of 10-20mm likely (though rainfall for inland parts of South Australia remains less likely). As the pattern tends more westerly, it should bring some relief to sodden parts of eastern Australia, particularly the NSW Mid North Coast and Hunter region, which are still recovering from recent record floods.

ACCESS G accumulated rainfall across southeastern Australia during the next four days.

Looking further ahead, there are signs of potential northwest cloud band development across inland Australia. If this occurs, it could bring further rainfall to inland South Australia, which has endured a very dry start to the year. For reference, Adelaide has recorded just 28.8mm so far in 2025, a fraction of the ~160mm typically expected by mid-May.

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